Gold-separating machine.



. PATENTED FEB. 14, 1905. F. G. STEVENSON & C, E. HEFT.

GOLD SEPARATING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 4.1904.

No. '7B-2,425.

Fig/j;

rJ C'. Stevenson harefE. Hefz- @Vl hummm UNTTED STATES FRED O. STEVENSON`AND CHARLES rammed February i4, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

E. HEFT, OF GRANTS PASS, OREGON,

ASSIGNORS OF ONE-HALF TO GEORGE W. SANFORD, OF HONEOYE FALLS,AND-CHARLES M. SMITH, OF MARION, NEW YORK.

GOLD-SEPARATING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 782,425, dated February14, 1905.

I Application filed .Tune 4, 1904:. Serial No. 211,177. i

T o aZZ w/wm/ it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRED C. S'rEvENsoN and CHARLES E. HEFT, citizens ofthe-United States, residing at Grants Pass, in the county of Josephineand State of Oregon, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Gold-Separating Machines, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in machines for separating goldfrom gold-laden sand and other base'minerals; and its objects are,first, to provide a separator that may be used either with thegold-bearing sand in a dry formpor with water owinggover it; second, toprovide for thoroughly sifting the gold-laden sand and bringingitincontact with the amalgam in a tine powder, so that the smaller particlesof gold will be more readily taken up by the amalgam, and, third, toprovide a machine with which air may be passed forcibly through thesifting sand as it approaches the amalgam and passes through themachine. We attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which-,-

Figure l is a longitudinal section of themachine on the line X Xof Fig.2, showing the relation of the several parts; and Fig. 2 is a top planof the machine with the hopper re- Similar letters refer to similarparts throughout both views. Y

rThis machine is constructed with an outer cylinder A, supportedin headsK and L, the

head K being fitted to revolve freely1 upon the bearing K', which may beaball-bearing, if desired, on the pillow-block Y', and the head L isfitted to revolve freely on the roller-bearings M, which are supportedto revolve in the 40 pillow-block Y. The cylinder A may be made torevolve by means of` the gear-wheel Z meshing in the gear Z at the endof the cylinder A. The gear-wheels Z and G are supported upon the sameshaft, so that they must revolve together, and the gear-wheel G isdriven by the gear-Wheel F, Which is secured to the driving-shaft D. Weprefer to place an idler G' between the gear-wheels F and G,

so that the gear-wheels G and Z" will turn in the same direction thatthe gear-wheel F does and willl cause the cylinder A to revolve in theopposite direction.

- The shaft D is supported to revolve freely in the boxes N and N andhas an inner cylinder B C secured thereto, said inner cylinder beingdivided at Z. The end O of this cylinder is designed to receive thegold-laden sand from the hopper O through the spout O.

O represents a screen that may be made to vibrate, if desired, bymeansof the angle-lever U U', which is pivoted to a support, as at V,and has one arm pivotally attached to the screen O and the other endarranged -to be actuated by knobs W on the cylinder-head L or by lanyother of the many available appliances for this purpose.

The portion O of the inner cylinder is provided With numerous aperturesc or otherwise arranged to rescreen the gold-laden sand before it passesinto the outer cylinder A and comes in contact with the amalgam atherein, and the portionB of the inner cylinder is provided with likeperforations for the passage of air which is impelled by the fan J Theouter cylinder A and-the inner cylinder B C, as hereinbefore suggested,revolvein opposite directions and are so geared that the inner cylinderrevolves relatively fast-say three h und red revolutions per minutie-and theouter cylinder revolves relatively slow-say forty to sixtyrevolutions per minute-it being desirable that the inner cylinder shouldrevolve fast enough to thoroughly mix and sift the sand and4 thattheouter cylinder should revolve slow enough sothat there would be nodanger of carrying the sand and amalgam around with it and yet that itmay have sufjcient motion to cause the sand to travel toward theopenings 71: of the cylinder.

It is desirable that the fan J should revolve fast enough to force astrong current of air through the cylinders, and for this purpose Weplace a pulley I upon the end of the shaft D and connect it by a belt Swith a smaller pulley I', mounted upon a counter-shaft that is supportedin the boxes N and upon which is mounteda pulley H, and this pulley isconnected, by means of the belt S, with the pulley H, which in turn issecured to the hollow shaft J, that supports and carries the fan J Itwill be noted that the shaft J is designed to revolve closely but freelyupon the shaft D as a bearing, but to be entirely free from contact withthe bearing K.

P represents a section of water-pipe to be used for Howing a stream ofwater through the cylinder A for the purpose of keeping the gold-ladensand agitated, so that the particles 'of gold maybe made to settle tothe bottom and be taken up by the amalgam a'.

To describe the action of the fan J we will place the observer facingthe left end of the machine and looking toward the right end.

If dry gold-laden sand is being passed through the cylinder, the fanshould revolve over toward the right to draw a current of air throughthe cylinders and force it out of the openings thus keeping the sandthoroughly agitated and allowing the heavier portion, gold, to drop intoand be taken up by the amalgam. On the other hand, if a stream of wateris forced over the gold-laden sand the fans J should revolve over to theleft to draw a strong current of air through the openings It' and forceit through the apertures c in the cylinder B upon the surface of theWater in the cylinder A, thus thoroughly agitating the sand and waterand greatly facilitating the process of seprating the finer particles ofgold from the san E represents a pulley secured to the shaft D fordriving the cylinders by belt connection with other pulleys, &c., in theusual way, and I) represent supporting-bearings by means of which theinner cylinder B C is secured to theshaft D.

T represents the base of the machine.

R represents, or rather suggests, a'form of support for the hopper O,andQQ show rods and turnbuckles for securing the heads K L andstrengthening the construction of the cylinder A.

To reverse the motion of the fans, as hereinbefore mentioned, it issimply necessary to substitute a half-wind belt for the straight belt S,a mechanical change so well known in the art as to need no furtherdescription or illustration in this connection.

The outer cylinder Ais provided with a series of annular ribs a,designed, first, to retain the several quantities of amalgam a', and,second, to retard the iiow of the gold-laden sand through the cylinder,so that the gold may be more thoroughly sifted from it, and the entirecylinder is made to incline downward, as indicated in Fig. 1, so thatthe natural inclination of the sand will be to travel toward theopenings le.

We do not desire to restrict ourselves to applying the fans J as hereinshown and described, as a fan may be used entirely separate from thecylinder and connected by an air-pipe; but we prefer the constructionherein shown, as it makes the machine more complete and compact.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

l. In a gold-separating machine, an inner cylinder mounted upon a shaft,an outer cylinder mounted upon independent bearings, a train ofgear-wheels connecting the cylinders `to revolve them in oppositedirections and at dierent speeds, annular ribs'within the outercylinder, the inner cylinder divided longitudinally and perforated, anda hopper and screen connected therewith.

2. In a gold-separating machine, an inner cylinder mounted upon a shaftand open at both ends, a partition dividing it longitudinally and theshell of the cylinder perforated, an outer cylinder mounted uponseparate bearings, open at'both ends and having annular ribs within, atrain of gear-wheels connecting said cylinders to revolve them atdifferent speeds, a fan within the inner cylinder connected to revolveindependent thereof, and a hopper and screen.

3. In a gold-separating machine, an inner perforated cylinder, a shaftsupported in pillow-blocks, and carrying said cylinder, an outercylinder mounted on independent bear ings on said pillow-blocks a trainof gearwheels connecting said cylinders to revolve them at differentspeeds, annular ribs in the outer cylinder, both of said cylinders openat the ends, a fan mounted upon a cylindrical shaft to revolve upon thecylinder-shaft, a train of multiplying-pulleys and belts connecting thecylinder-shaft with the fan-shaft, and a hopper.

4. In a gold-separating machine, an inner revoluble perforated cylinderopen at both ends, a shaft mounted on pillow-blocks and supporting saidcylinder, an outer cylinder open at both ends and mounted on independentbearings on the pillow-blocks, annular ribs in the outer-` cylinder, atrain of multiplying gear-wheels connecting the two cylinders, a fanconnected with the inner cylinder, a hopper and an oscillating screenconnected with the inner cylinder.

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Signed at Grants Pass, Oregon, this 14th A day of May, 1904.

FRED o. s'rEvENsoN.' CHARLES E. HEFT.

